🏭 The pineapple protector

Good morning. One of The Column's readers wrote an overview on plastic waste pyrolysis for his firm. It's worth a read if you have a bonus 10 minutes!

From the condenser:

· BASF's pineapple protector

· More PET coming to Texas

· POTD: disposable gloves

BASF is the pineapple protector

German chemical company, BASF, is selling its ultraviolet (UV) light stabilizer to a plastic recycler making high-density polyethylene (HDPE) shields for pineapple plantations in Malaysia.

The context you need:

It was just last week that we talked about Solvay's UV-C light stabilizer for some new COVID-19-induced high UV-C exposure applications. This situation isn't all too different—BASF's additive is just tuned for normal sunlight exposure and recycled plastics instead. The general concept here is that polymer chains break down when exposed to harsh conditions (like UV exposure and high temperature) and blending chemicals like these into those polymers mitigates the exposure problem.

What makes this special:

As time goes on, those polymer chains are going to break down no matter what you try to blend in there. That's partially why mechanically recycled plastic is less valuable than virgin plastic—it simply doesn't meet the quality requirements for as many applications. BASF's additive increases the value of this recycled plastic by extending its useful life. It's not clear what it was beforehand, but apparently these pineapple shields can now last at least four seasons out in the sun.

Bigger picture:

Direct exposure to sunlight can "sunburn" pineapples, damaging the tissue of the fruit, which makes it susceptible to disease and infestation. That means lower yields and wasted resources for pineapple plantations. Those plantations may not be able to justify swapping out pineapple protectors once per season, but maybe they can justify doing so once every four seasons.

Getting back to work on PET in Corpus

Three-way joint venture, Corpus Christi Polymers (CCP), is planning to resume construction at its upcoming terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Catching you up:

Back in 2011, M&G Group announced plans to start building an integrated PTA and PET plant in Corpus. They started construction but eventually went bankrupt in 2018. After the bankruptcy announcement, Indorama Ventures, Far Eastern New Century, and Alpek picked up the land and half-constructed assets for a cool $1.1 billion. The plan was to finish up what M&G started, but then when COVID-19 hit they decided to put the project on pause.

Okay, so what's the plan?

Everyone agreed to start construction again this August in hopes of starting up sometime in 2025. The three companies are individually responsible for sourcing a third of the raw materials (to make PTA) and will be allowed to sell a third of the product (PET). All of that PTA will be made by oxidizing para-xylene (mostly made at refineries by the catalytic reforming of naphtha) and the PET will be made by combining PTA with ethylene glycol (which can trace its roots back to ethane steam crackers).

Zooming out:

PET is the polymer we use to make polyester clothing and most of our packaging. Those end markets are why Asia make so much more of this stuff than the US and Europe (like 5x as much), but there's a push to make supply chains shorter, and cheap MEG in the US has companies expanding in the region. Don't forget that Origin Materials' route to PET gets to take advantage of that relatively cheap MEG as well.

Some more headlines:

• ADNOC and TotalEnergies agreed to work on carbon capture together

• Drax is going to build a huge bioenergy and carbon capture power plant

• Nouryon announced that they've achieved carbon netruality at 5 of their sites

• Evonik found a buyer for its ammonium sulfate

• Boeing and Alder Fuels are planning to scale up SAF globally

Product of The Day:

Today, we're breaking down disposable gloves.

If you're a fan of sanitation and hygeine then you're probably a fan of disposable gloves as well. For the most part you'll see three main types of disposable gloves out in the wild: latex, nitrile, and vinyl—which is great for distinguishing them, but not so great for actually understanding what those materials are.

Latex, often referred to as natural rubber, is more accurately defined as the cis isomer of 1,4-polyisoprene that we harvest from rubber trees. Nitrile gloves are made from a copolymer of acrylonitrile and butadiene called nitrile butadiene rubber. Vinyl gloves (the only ones that aren't form-fitting) are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), but require abnormally high levels (about 30%) of plasticizers like DEHP, DINP, and BBP to offer PVC some flexibility.

In case you're interested:

• Podcast: Chemical engineers can work in beer industry—listen to Daniel Garza's experience if you're interested.

• Book: You need to understand the forces behind the oil industry to understand the chemical industry. Daniel Yergin's The New Map does a great job breaking it down.*

• Tip: If you like this newsletter but want some non-chemical business news, look no further than Morning Brew.*

• Safety Moment: Read this article to learn how improving the ergonomics in a chemical plant can improve the safety in the workplace.

The bottoms:

All views represent those of the author not their employer.